In today’s time, social media is the biggest platform to interact with different people from different parts of the world. Even kids are aware of what Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram are all about. They know how important it is to be on social media. These days, people consider it as a status symbol. There is no doubt social media is an ‘in thing’ and plays a very important role in our lives but just as a coin has two sides, everything has a positive side along with a negative side.

Talking about the positive side of social media, we can say that these are big networking platforms as they enable us to stay connected with our colleagues. With the help of Facebook and Twitter, we are able to stay up-to-date in every regard like news, fashion, films, music, sports, among others. Posting something on social media acts as a way of self-expression as we are able to share our views with the world for which we receive likes and comments. Further, when others share our post, it boosts our self-confidence which is to some extent motivational as that enables us to become more active online and engage in online discussions by sharing our point of view. When you are online you feel like the whole world is just a click away.

Over the years, technology has done wonders in communication and in the ability to stay more connected. However, in my view, technology and social media should be used in a useful manner otherwise it could be dangerous as excess of everything is bad. The overuse of social media is a global problem and has already shown a negative impact on the minds of people. Despite its usefulness, in many ways social media is making people addicted to it, lazy and emotionally sick, as there are people existing on both ends of the spectrum, with some taking whatever they come across online lightly, while others may take it seriously. Some people are able to draw the line as and when required, while others start believing in whatever they read or come across on social media. Often kids stumble upon unwanted sites that might stir up various problems from a young age itself.

Personally, I have observed that for a long time some people surf the websites and social platforms for hours when they do not have anything else to do, they just sit online liking news and things which sometimes does not even make sense. People are often uploading their private information including their pictures and locations. However, people do not realise that by putting their private information online, they become more susceptible and vulnerable to all the ill-uses of social media. Everyone needs to be careful with private information since privacy is at stake all the time.

Consider this. I posted two articles online on Facebook on Asian Games 2018 and US Open 2018, but to my surprise, I received only two likes, but ironically enough, one of my vacation pictures received a century of likes. People online do not have the time to read things that are important or things that matter, but they have all the time in the world to indulge in gossip, cyber bullying, trolling and using the social platform for all the wrong things. This represents a true picture of our society. They will believe hoax or fake news and even resort to share or repost it, but they will showcase an opposite behaviour when you post something useful.

The point that I am drawing home is that social media is a reflection of social behaviour and individual instincts. Social media is a very useful and helpful platform as it connects us with so many people and educates in various ways. At the same time, if not used smartly, it can actually cause anxiety and depression, especially when people become a victim of the unfortunate side of social media such as cyber bullying and trolling. It can also alter the sleep patterns of people as they often stay up till late night surfing through their profiles. The overall impact of the negative side of social media can actually have a very severe affect on the overall mental and emotional state of a person if not used cautiously. It is true that social media virtually connects us to the entire world, but at the same time it disconnects us in real life. It is up to us to choose which side of the coin we want to stay at.

Most importantly, social media which mirrors our society at a global scale has rich contents but the moot question is whether we are going to be outweighed by the discontents engendered by socially irresponsible patterns!

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THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE INDIAN OBSERVER POST, ITS STAFF, OR ITS AFFILIATES.